


attention is the beginning of devotion

by sapphfics



Category: Barbie - All Media Types, Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)
Genre: ...idk how to tag this except these idiots are repressed and gay, Angst, F/F, Post-Canon, had to retitle everything for personal reasons sorry, so now it’s mary oliver quotes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-01-25 14:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18576073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: Two days after the coronation, her mother disowns her. Delancy doesn’t cry when they tell her, because she knows her mother never loved her, only her claim. What worries her is Blair.Or: Delancy and Blair, and life after the coronation.





	1. maybe our world will grow kinder eventually

Two days after the coronation, her mother disowns her. Delancy doesn’t cry when they tell her, because she knows her mother never loved her, only her claim. What worries her is Blair. 

Blair is in the room with her, because Lady Royals must follow their superiors everywhere and she supposes they’re something like allies now. Her mother would sneer at them, but Delancy knew it was because she envied them. “Look at them! Like love sick puppies!” 

“Delancy?” Blair whispers, squeezing her hand. Delancy stands strong. 

“I don’t have a family anymore, either,” Delancy says. “Another thing we’ve got in common.” 

“I can be your family,” Blair smiles, that smile that won over every man and woman and child who grew up believing their beloved royals were murdered in the dead of night, their bodies left undiscovered. “Emily likes you, and Emily’s only ever liked Mom and me.” 

“You aren’t my family,” Delancy doesn’t let go of Blair’s hand. “You’re my queen.”

Blair doesn’t respond. Delancy thinks that’s for the best. 

Blair lacks the backbone to execute the woman who is the reason she’s an orphan. Not that Delancy minds, really, because a part of her still holds hope her mother might forgive her and hug her, just once. 

Blair still isn’t comfortable with being called Sophia by anyone. It’s understandable, Delancy knows. She’s been Blair her whole life, but everyone expects her to immediately be their lost princess, the one they imagined for ten years that she can’t possibly live up to. Blair joked, once, that only her true friends still call her Blair, but Delancy thinks it’s because no one wants to remember Blair was once nothing. 

Blair is even less comfortable going from running a cafe to running a country. Delancy tries to help as best she can because her mother bred her to take the throne and Prince Nicholas has his own business to attend to, a different princess to marry. But Lady Royals are not permitted to speak over their queens, so when Blair fumbles in diplomatic meetings Delancy can do nothing. 

“Focus on me,” Delancy tells her, whispering as they make their way to the council chambers. “I’ll be right with you, the whole time.”

“I know that. You’re always with me,” Blair comments. “It’s nice…Hadley and Isla were so busy together, and before that I was just trying to keep Mom and Emily alive. I was always on my own, because no one else would help us. I got that job at the cafe at twelve because I lied about how old I was. It’s just…no one’s ever..been there for me, like you.”

Delancy should say something snarky, like how they’ve never even seen each other cry, let alone laugh, and they aren’t even friends. But Delancy just wants to hug her. 

It’s odd how things change. Delancy was going to be queen, now she’s a Lady Royal. Delancy is kinder than her mother ever wished her to be, because fear is the way to assure loyalty. She hated Blair now...there’s something else. Sometimes Blair will stare at her too intensely, or hold her hand for far longer than necessary to get out of their carriage, or her hand will brush against Delancy’s leg in the carriage and Delancy is left wondering if Blair has ever done anything this selfish in her entire life, ever wanted anyone before. 

She doubts it.


	2. aches to be peaceful finally and at any cost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blair stands still as a statue, looking nothing like herself, wearing the gown Queen Isabella wore in the last portrait she ever had. It’s haunting. She stands for the portrait alone, because she will get a new one when she’s married, when she has children, when she has grandchildren. 
> 
> Yes, Blair will have to be married, soon. She will be expected to carry on the family name as the sole survivor. Delancy doesn’t know how she’ll handle it.

A week after their last council meeting, Blair gets her portrait painted. There had been other paintings, before, when the artists were just guessing what she might look like. There’s been conspiracy theories that Sophia was alive ever since they found the breaks in Queen Isabella’s car were cut, that her body was never found. The Gardanian Authorities never had the heart to take their beloved princess off of the missing person’s registry, so they needed proof should she ever be spotted by a passer-by on a street corner, at a school, in a magazine shop.

But no one ever said anything. If Delancy hadn’t pulled her name out, Blair might never have been found. 

Even now that Blair wrecked the life she once knew, Delancy still doesn’t regret it. 

Blair stands still as a statue, looking nothing like herself, wearing the gown Queen Isabella wore in the last portrait she ever had. It’s haunting. She stands for the portrait alone, because she will get a new one when she’s married, when she has children, when she has grandchildren. 

Yes, Blair will have to be married, soon. She will be expected to carry on the family name as the sole survivor. Delancy doesn’t know how she’ll handle it. She shuts her eyes for a second and tries to picture Blair with a man, picture herself with a man.  
It doesn’t work. 

“You look just like her,” The painter comments. It’s all anyone can say about her. It must annoy Blair more than she lets on. “I’m surprised no one realised sooner.” 

“Actually, no one ever commented on my resemblance to my mother before I came here,” Blair says. “Guess it would be weird to tell a child ‘you look like a dead woman.’” 

“True,” The painter says. “I painted that portrait. You were a very happy baby with them, Sophia.” 

She was a happy child with her adoptive family too, Delancy thinks scornfully. 

“When she found me on her doorstep, Miss Willows said I wouldn’t stop crying.” Blair says. She can’t even call the woman who raised her her mother anymore, not when she now knows her that birth mother was a murdered queen who everyone adored. Delancy thinks that’s sad.

My mother knew the driver of that car, Delancy thinks. She had him executed by firing squad. I don’t know if he knew anything.

Prince nuzzles up to Blair. He’s taken to sleeping at the foot of her bed, in case anyone tries to take her away from him again. Delancy knows Blair appreciates it.  
It takes forever to finish the painting, but Delancy has to watch Blair for the rest of her days and she will never grow tired of it. 

She stands behind the painter so Blair never stops looking at her, either. 

-:-

Hadley and Isla live in neighbouring kingdoms, and make frequent visits to one another. They have siblings who manage the kingdom in their absence, and besides, they are peaceful and their lands do not encounter the same kind of problems Gardania does. They call the visits diplomacy, but Delancy knows they’ve been friends for as long as any of them can remember. They must miss each other. 

Delancy never fit in with them. Maybe that was a sign she wasn’t meant to be queen. All Delancy has now is Blair. 

They visit Blair together after her portrait goes up. Photographs of it are sold too, and soon enough there’s a photo of the living ghost Princess Sophia hung in everyone’s home. 

Delancy doesn’t like it one bit. 

They spend hours preparing the palace for Hadley and Isla’s arrivals. Scrubbing floors and decorating tables and preparing meals, the castle soon shines under Delancy’s handiwork. The servants all receive a pay rise. 

Hadley and Isla are holding hands, and the air around them is charged. Blair hugs them, and looks happier than she’s been since Delancy gave her the crown. 

“We have to tell you something in private.” Hadley says. She looks pointedly over at Delancy. “Leave us, Lady Delancy.”

Delancy nods and bites her tongue. She heads down to the ground floor, to check on the servants. She needs to distract herself before she starts overthinking again. 

-:-

“They’re getting married!” Blair announces excitedly, slamming the door shut behind her. She’s practically skipping. “I’m going to be their maid of honour!” 

Delancy is confused. “Who‘s getting married?”

“Hadley and Isla!” Blair says. 

“But they’re...both girls?” Delancy replies. She is trying to be quiet. They are on the ground floor and she is very aware of the open windows. Anyone could hear them. 

“Queens can change the laws, Delancy.” Blair says. “Being progressive and all. I didn’t realise we could do that!” 

Despite herself, Delancy actually laughs. She sits beside Blair. “You’re kidding? You are queen of a whole country, Blair! You can do anything!”

Blair grins and moves toward her. “Oh, I can?” 

Blair is sitting so close to her. 

“Yes,” Delancy says. “Anything.” 

Blair kisses her. It might be the first selfish thing Blair has ever done in her whole life, but Delancy doesn’t stop her. 

She is so wrapped up in this moment that she doesn’t even hear the gunshot. All she sees is blood on her hands, and then she registers Blair’s screams. 

“Death to the false princess!”

She falls into Blair’s arms, and the world goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so i’m continuing this hell fic ig sdjnfs sorry world


	3. you do not have to be good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't keep the old story/chapters titles for reasons I don't want to go into, so I changed them. Sorry! <3  
> Warning: Some of this chapter is set in a hospital and deals with Delancy's recovery. I'm fortunate enough to have not been anywhere near a hospital since a personal loss in my family two years ago. It also involves the discussion and implementation of the death penalty and implied sexual content. Yes, you're still reading a Barbie fanfic. I'm so sorry this exists.

The last thing Delancy remembers is seeing her own blood staining her fingers and Blair’s desperate horrible unending scream. She couldn’t see anything. She heard the pound of feet, guards practically ripping the door off of its hinges, and the thud of a body on the floor. Then nothing at all.

The world is still dark and it gets darker still. 

Delancy doesn’t like to dream, because her dreams are often somehow worse than her waking hours. She would exhaust herself working away with Blair so she wouldn’t have to sleep, or when she did, her mind would be too fatigued to torment her.

But now, she has time to dream again. 

She dreams of her father. He has her eyes and darker hair, and he stands proud beside his stern wife. She can’t remember his voice and her mother burned all the photographs of him and pretends he doesn’t exist, so all Delancy has is her imagination. She knows that the image she has of him is wrong. He probably had blue eyes, blue as the sky, a trait common amongst Gardanian nobility. Everyone speculated if Delancy was a bastard given how Delancy doesn’t resemble him at all. 

“He had longed for a son,” her mother had told her whilst nursing a glass of medicinal whiskey. “But he got you instead. You weren’t good enough for him. So he left you for his mistress.” 

Delancy had met the woman her father had left them for against her mother’s orders. She hadn’t known what to say to her, and her father had only smiled and said something about how proud he was of her, how lovely she was, how he wished he could have visited more often but her mother forbade it. It was higher praise than she ever got from her mother, who only ever seemed to express distain at her continued existence. The mistress, if she even was who her mother claimed, was pretty. The woman had turned to her father and whispered, “We should have saved her.”  
But no one had saved her. She hasn’t seen either of them since. 

She dreams of the funeral for the last of the Gardanian royalty. They had buried them together, or at least they tried. The museum took Queen Isabella’s glowing crown, but they styled her hair to resemble a crown. The affair had been packed with more of the public than relatives and Delancy thought that was tragic. The king had been a commoner with very little family, as had the queen. She remembers the open caskets for all but one, the smallest coffin left empty. Their dog had howled and pawed at the gravestones, as if trying to resurrect them himself. Delancy had reached out to hold him and comfort him but her mother had snatched her hand away. 

And now, Delancy is dreaming of Blair. She hates that this isn’t the first time. 

She’s dreamt of her often since they started being more than enemies, but even before that Blair would haunt her mind like the living Jane Doe she once was. She pulls Blair’s name out of the ballot and it burns her skin but she still reads it with a smile. Her mother’s firm hand on her shoulder, dragging her from place to place in hopes of finding her another loveless marriage. She shoves Blair into a palace wall and kisses her quite insane, until Blair slips through her fingers the same way the crown slipped through hers. Over and over and over again. Blair can never be hers. 

Delancy doesn’t know how long this lasts. She only knows that she opens her eyes and tries to sit up, and it hurts to move but she does it anyway because she has to. 

The first thing she really registers is the news reader’s voices, the ones who were commenting on the coronation, speculating on her current condition. Of course, they assume that she is dead. The people of Gardania tend to jump to the worst case scenario, she’s learned. There is a portrait of Sophia in the hospital room too, the one Delancy saw in real time. It unnerves her though it should comfort her to see the eyes of the girl she loves. And she is sure now, that she loves her. It’s terrifying.

“You’re finally awake?” Headmistress Privet looks exhausted and it’s the first time Delancy has ever seen her with her hair down. Her darker roots are almost down to her ears. “I’ll call Queen Sophia.” 

Delancy’s head throbs and she blinks several times to ensure she isn’t still dreaming. “Headmistress Privet? Where is Sophia? Is she okay?” 

“She’s okay.” It’s then she realises that Headmistress Privet is holding her hand. She wants to pull it away but it’s more real affection than she ever got from her mother so she lets it happen. “Well, she’s terrified for you, but she didn’t get shot. I have a feeling she’ll want to explain her absence to you herself.”

As Headmistress Privet leaves, her phone clutched in her hand, Delancy lets herself soak in the room around her. There is a table beside her bed that is littered with bouquets of flowers and several boxes of chocolate. The bouquet Blair must have given her are placed beside her head. Pink carnations, her favourite. There are also gifts from Hadley and Isla and even Portia. She had thought Portia had forgotten her. 

She is almost drifting back into an uneasy sleep when Blair shoves open the door the same way she shoved open the cell. 

“I thought you were dead-“ Blair breathes. “You’re-you’re still here?”

Delancy wants to cry; either it’s the pain she now has time to recognise or the knowledge that Blair always prepares for her loved ones to not come back. “Yeah, I’m still here. I love you.” 

Given how enthusiastically Blair had kissed her before, she expects Blair to do anything but look at the floor. 

Delancy’s blood runs cold suddenly. Something is horribly wrong. “What is it?” 

“The assassin,” Blair starts. “His plan was to kill us both.”

“I thought as much,” Delancy replies. She still doesn’t know why Blair looks so nervous. “How do you-“

“You don’t understand,” Blair cuts her off. “The attempt was at your mother’s behest. She also targeted my family. The people are calling for her execution. I wanted to speak to you first, before…”

“You’re going to kill her.” Delancy states. It isn’t a question. She clenches her fists. “I want to see her, one last time. Can you arrange that?”

“Delancy, I’m so sorry. She’s your mother, I don’t have to-“

Blair is sat on her bed now and Delancy knows a nurse will probably yell at her soon but she doesn’t care. All she cares about is Blair. All she will ever care about is Blair. 

So, Delancy kisses her, soft and slow. “I love you, and we both know she will never stop trying to kill us. This will be cathartic for both of us.” 

-:-

Her mother looks less intimidating without the finery she was forever draped in. They kept her in the dungeons in the palace, the same place Queen Isabella might have put her if she had survived. Delancy finds it fitting. 

“Delancy, you can stop this.” Her mother is begging. Delancy thinks she must be dreaming again but she pinches herself and she isn’t. “I am your mother. I killed for you. I killed the royal family for you.” 

“Are you serious? You killed them for yourself,” Delancy’s words are laced with venom. “You disowned me, mother. And now, you will never have your vengeance.” 

With that, she walks out and doesn’t look back even as she hears what must be her mother crying. 

-:-

Despite everything, she can’t watch the execution. 

Blair comes to see her afterwards and holds her as she sobs until all her grief for a childhood she never got burns out of her. 

“Did she have any last words?” 

“Her last words were ‘My only regret is that baby Sophia survived that car wreck.’” Sophia says. “And my name is Blair.”

“Not anymore. As the world won’t let you or I forget, you are the Queen Sophia the Second of Gardania,” Delancy isn’t crying anymore. She’s angry. “And...Queens don’t marry Lady Royals.” 

“I am and will forever be Blair Willows and I love you more than anyone I have ever known. I wouldn’t be here without you. I killed her for you, for myself, for everyone and anyone she would ever hurt.” 

“Blair…” There’s only one thing Delancy can think to ask. “Will you marry me?” 

Delancy didn’t think this through. She doesn’t even have a ring, but she knows Blair, and Blair survived seventeen years without anything. She doesn’t want anything. She only wants to be safe. 

And Blair kisses her, pushes her back on the bed. “Yes.”


	4. it is what i was born for ⏤ to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their wedding happens quickly. 
> 
> Delancy can tell that Blair finds this strange, that she had expected them to wait longer, for her council to drag their feet. It makes sense; from what Delancy’s learned, Blair has never found much time or use to develop an interest in the nuptials of royalty. Everyone is nervous. The last rulers of Gardania only had a year of proported marital bliss before they were murdered and those who advise them presume that the cycle will repeat itself. 
> 
> This is why Delancy always insists they take carriages instead of cars. Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took me forever to update, i hope this ending is worth it!! <33333

Their wedding happens quickly. 

Delancy can tell that Blair finds this strange, that she had expected them to wait longer, for her council to drag their feet. It makes sense; from what Delancy’s learned, Blair has never found much time or use to develop an interest in the nuptials of royalty. Everyone is nervous. The last rulers of Gardania only had a year of proported marital bliss before they were murdered and those who advise them presume that the cycle will repeat itself. 

This is why Delancy always insists they take carriages instead of cars. Just in case. 

Hadley and Isla get married first, mostly because they want to let them have a chance in the spotlight but also because Hadley would murder them both if they did otherwise. She’s seen Hadley’s sword and she’s fairly certain the woman knows how to use it given how vigorous she was in her attempt to open the safe door. 

Blair is the Maid of Honour at said wedding, Delancy is a bridesmaid, and Headmistress Privett is the officiate. Hadley and Isla kiss and Blair cries and Delancy cheers and Gardania claims to become a bit more accepting of two princesses in love when they see the footage of Blair and Delancy holding hands.

They haven’t announced the engagement yet. No one but the few servants who have walked in on them even know of their relationship.

Except, of course, for Blair’s family. 

-:-

Emily is ecstatic at the idea of having Delancy as a sister in law, perhaps even more so than she was at living in a castle. But Emily’s not so little anyone, she’s grown half a foot since Delancy last saw her. Emily will soon attend Princess Charm School herself to train as Blair’s successor should they have no children. 

But Blair’s mother is even happier. It’s strange and beautiful to witness a mother who actually cares and wants her daughter to be happy. 

They have tea together the night before they will announce their engagement on national television. Delancy doesn’t like tea much, if she’s honest, it’s too sweet. She likes coffee bitter, but she takes it anyway so Ms Willows won’t be offended. She can see that Ms Willows’ hands shake slightly as she tries to hold the teacup with just her forefingers but she smiles at Delancy anyway. 

“I need a straw, sorry,” Ms Willows remakes as she pulls a reusable one from her bag. Metal. Like the chains Dame Devin was in before she was executed. Comforting, almost. 

“Don’t apologise,” Delancy says. “What did you want to talk about, Ms Willows?” 

“I mean, I wanted to talk about Blair. Sophia. My eldest daughter.” 

Delancy freezes. “Do you...do you not approve of our relationship?” 

“Nothing of the sort, sweet girl. But when I held that little bloodied baby in my arms, I swore she would never be hurt again if I can help it.” Blair’s mother says. “And I am aware your mother was incredibly cruel to you, I think the whole kingdom is. I’m sorry that happened to you, you deserved better. I hope you see that I’m not. I just want my little girl to be happy, and I can see that she’s happiest with you. Everyone can.”

“I won’t hurt her Ms Willows,” Delancy promises. “It was pure fate I pulled her name from the lottery. She’s a miracle.” 

“I know,” Ms Willows replies, wistfully. She gets up from the table as a servant comes to take the tree. “Well, I’m going for a walk. But please, you can call me mom.” 

Delancy requests a paternity test that evening. 

-:-

And, it turns out that the rumours are true; she is a bastard. Perhaps that's why her mother always spoke of her like she was soaked in shame. They can’t determine who exactly her birth father is, but it isn’t Lord Devin. She wonders if her father knew, if that was the true reason he left all those years ago. 

She thinks, again, of the driver of Princess Isabella’s car. He and her mother had always been close, and she had mourned his death though it was she who had ordered it. Could it have been him? Is she cursed by coming from the bloodline of both of the killer’s of her fiancé’s parents? 

But Delancy supposes it doesn’t matter, in the end, as she requests the results be destroyed. They’re dead, but she isn’t, and she will not live with the blood they spilled on her hands. 

“I would like to announce that Queen Sophia and I are getting married,” Delancy tells the news camera that’s been shoved in her face as soon as she was out of range of the hospital. “All that matters to me is her.” 

-:-

Blair’s wedding dress was once her mother’s, or so the seamstress tells her. It makes Blair smile politely, but internally, Delancy cringes. 

How long can she go on living in a dead stranger’s shadow? 

They’re getting married on the lawn of Princess Charm School. It’s a popular venue for weddings, and it’s perfect for the two of them. Everyone who went to school with them is invited, as is the rest of the kingdom, and a majority of the event will be broadcast live. 

Delancy’s dress is purple, not white, and she looks as radiant as ever. If Blair is the sun, the centre of the universe, she is the moon bright and cracked in some places, but still beautiful. 

Delancy is traditional, she won’t see Blair until they’re at the altar, and the wait is hard. There is a voice somewhere deep in her mind, a voice that sounds a lot like her mother, that says Blair ran and left her at the altar. That Blair never really loved her at all, that it was all a lie. 

So that’s part of why Delancy tears up when she finally sees Blair walking down the isle. And when Blair immediately grabs her hands the second they are within reach, she smiles and Delancy never wants to let her go ever again. 

They keep the news cameras away when they are saying their vows. They wrote them themselves, in secret, and Blair did so with the help of Hadley and Isla. Isla said her vows via song, a rare treat to share her music with the world, and it was beautiful. 

Delancy is nervous, but she speaks anyway. She has to. 

“My mother was always preparing me for loveless political marriage, ever since I was a girl, and I never thought anyone would love me, and then I pulled your name from the lottery, and there you were.” Delancy swallows the tears. “And at first, I hated you and I tried to get you expelled, and here I am now, madly in love with you and feeling like I’m the one who won the lottery. So, if you really want to marry Dame Devin’s daughter, I accept. I want nothing more. I love you. I do.” 

“I’m so glad you exist, Delancy Devin,” Blair has to wipe her tears on the side of her sleeve and her hands shake in Delancy’s. “I never thought I could be this happy. Ever. Or selfish. I’m selfish, when it comes to love. When it comes to you. I always was, I think, and I always knew it would be you, ever since I sprayed perfume in your face. But yeah, that part was an accident. And I’m glad I finally made the first move after realising women could love other women, even if we had to go through a lot to get here, I’m so grateful we did. I love you. I do.” 

“You may now kiss the bride!” Headmistress Privet announces, and Blair pulls her down for a long kiss, and they hear the assembled guests stand and applaud. 

 

-:-

“Uh—“ Blair steps up the podium, taps her glass of champagne with a fork until the glass smashes and Emily giggles. “I told you all the morning I was crowned that it was an honour to be your princess. It still is. It always will be. But I need to make an announcement.”

It seems as if all of the surrounding crowd holds their breath, just for an instant. Delancy squeezes her wife’s hand — her wife, she will never be used to saying that — as if to say, It’s okay. 

Blair sighs. “I’m changing my name.” 

There are a few cordial gasps. No one is surprised. It’s a wedding, of course she’s going to change her name. 

“As you might not be aware, my wife has changed her surname from Devin. And I know that you all want me to emulate my mother, Queen Sophia who I never got the chance to know,” Blair starts. “And, of course, I will honour her memory, and I will miss her ghost in those portraits, but I am not her. I’m sorry. So, I’m changing my name to Blair Sophia Isabella Willows. And my wife has changed her surname to reflect this. Ms Willows was and still is my mom, in all the ways that count, and she took care of me when no one else could even when I was nothing but a barista. And I will still be your Queen, if you’ll have me.”

The cheers, this time, are very much real. 

“To Queen Blair!” Someone shouts. And then the rest join in. “Long Live the Queen!” 

“To Queen Delancy!” Another declares. More cheering. 

“Thank you, thank you!” Blair replies, giddy on the delight of her subjects. 

“God, I love you, Blair Willows,” Delancy whispers, in a similar tone of that morning in the lottery, except this time is is loving. 

“I love you more, Mrs Delancy Willows.” Blair says. The wedding rings shine in the afternoon sun. 

Delancy may be an orphaned bastard, but she is now Blair’s wife and queen, and that is more than enough. 

It always will be. 

-:-

“Momma, momma!” 

Blair groans in her half-awaken state and shakes Delancy’s shoulder. “She’s awake.” 

Delancy sits up, always the early riser. “I know, baby. I’ll go get her.” 

She stands from the bed, and pads over to the door. Opening it, their daughter stands tall enough to just barely reach the door handle. 

“Hi Isabella!” Delancy announces as Blair pulls on a nearby robe. “What’s that, sweetie?” 

“It’s your ten year wedding anniversary!” Isabella says excitedly, as if they didn’t know. “That’s twice as old as me!” 

“And we’re still so in looove,” Blair says and gives Delancy a kiss. 

“Ew,” Isabella comments. “Anyway! Uh! I tried to make you breakfast, but I’m not tall enough, so I got Godmother Hadley and Auntie Emily to help me! And we made you pancakes, they’re downstairs though, so will you come? I made you a card!” 

Isabella pulls the card from behind her back and Delancy could cry. It depicts Isabella’s life so far, from orphanage to this castle, and she’s drawn them all together and smiling even though the highlighter pen has leaked through into the writing. 

“It’s amazing!” Delancy declares, and cradles the card to her chest. Isabella beams with pride. 

Beside her, Blair has an arm around her waist and is looking at the card in awe. “That’s beautiful!”

Delancy can hear Isabella’s tiny stomach rumbling. She leans down and smoothes her daughter’s soft brown hair. “Ok, honey, just let your mom and I get dressed, and we’ll come have those pancakes with you, okay? We love you. So so much.” 

“I know, mommy, I love you too!” Isabella says and skips downstairs, her skirt swirling around her. “Oh! And Auntie Isla wants to teach me the drums!” 

“Good morning, your highness,” Delancy says as she hears her wife yawn. “Our daughter is pretty amazing, isn’t she?” 

“Yeah,” Blair replies, giving her a sleepy smile. “She really is. And so are you.” 

“You are too,” Delancy says happily. “But I bet you get tired of me saying that.”

“Never,” Blair giggles. “Flattery will get you _everywhere_.”

“Is that so?” Delancy raises an eyebrow and Blair kisses her again. 

“Izzy won’t mind if we’re a little late, will she?” Blair whispers. “I want you all to myself.” 

“There’s ten floors between our bedroom and the kitchen,” Delancy grins and kisses her again. “We’ve got all the time in the world.” 

-:-

fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the end of the story <3 i hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as i enjoyed writing it. and i hope it all made sense aaa also i don’t usually like when characters name their kids after dead relatives but i’m making an exception for this because blair never knew her mom soooo
> 
> hope you enjoyed this!!!
> 
> come talk to me on [tumblr](https://sapphfics.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/sapphfics) if you feel so inclined! let’s be friends <333

**Author's Note:**

> ...idk how i feel about this but i’m gonna continue it??????? idk i’m tired i’ve had this in my head for ages though and i had to write it so...tell me what you think, i suppose???????


End file.
